Tories back Labour in council power grab

West Lothian Council has fallen under the control of Labour after the party received Tory support which allowed them to outvote the SNP.

The SNP ended up the largest party after the recent local elections with thirteen councillors, one ahead of Labour on twelve. However the Labour group have now formed an administration after receiving the support of the seven strong Conservative group and one independent councillor. One Labour councillor is believed to have abstained.

Despite officially a minority administration, critics are claiming Labour has formed an effective alliance with the Conservatives. It is claimed that in return for backing Labour, the Conservatives have either the Chair or Vice Chair on every one of the council’s committees.

The de-facto coalition follows a refusal by Labour’s Scottish Executive to allow the local Labour group to form an official alliance with the Conservatives. During the local authority campaign Scottish Labour pledged not to form any alliances with other parties deemed pro-austerity.

Labour recently expelled its entire Aberdeen council group after it formed an alliance with the Conservatives. The Aberdeen Labour group refused to honour the party’s pre-election pledge.

The SNP is in opposition in Aberdeen, Argyll and Bute, Angus, Moray and North Lanarkshire even though it is the biggest party on the council.

5 thoughts on “Tories back Labour in council power grab”

Labour will welcome these “rebels” back into the camp on June 9 th once the Westminster election is over.
The fact is there are now only two major political parties in Scotland,the Scottish party and the Westminster party.
The Westminster party will do as they are told by their masters in London which mostly will not be to the benefit of Scotland.
The troubles for Labour will begin to surface when the Tories in the councils start demanding more cuts to public services…Labour abstentions?

very astute of Labour when the Scottish Parliament was reconvened , they with the connivence of the other unionist parties gifted us voting systems that at first glance were democratic , very nice in theory , in practice bloody useless and confusing , that had to be explained in detail how to use them , and the sting in the tail was we cant change them without the permission of Westminster .
I said on a few sites before the council vote that a system that had to be explained in detail was stupid , the answer i got from someone was just because i didn’t understand it ,didnt make it a bad system, AYE F/n right we have the result of this system , before our eyes in every council a bloody useless shambles ,
I understood it for what it was , and i knew this would happen it was a trap set by the Unionist parties with the sole intention of blocking any SNP administration , as was some councils withdrawing from COSLA , anything to stop the SNP , no thought of how to make things better for people just stop the SNP ,
As a previous post its now a stark choice Scotland or London , it’s a clear choice .

For the BritNat May-time we require a militant, radical and assertive SNP.
We need outside the box politics. No more playing according to foetid BritState rules. We live in interesting, exciting and ‘dangerous’ times. The geriatric ’empire’ has seemingly arisen from the grave and its predatory Unionist zombies are once more stalking the electorate.